Underground mining bell



June 19, 1962 FENIX ETAL 3,039,580

UNDERGROUND MINING BELL Filed March 29, 1961 INVENTORS 4% f/AEEfl/ZZ/V/X a ATTORNEY),

United States Patent 3,039,580 UNDERGRGUND MINING BELL Gilbert 3. Fenix, Phoenix, Aria, and Sidney E. Seisson,

Tulsa, Okla, assignors to Fenix & Seisson, Incorporated, Tulsa, Okla, a corporation of Oklahoma Filed Mar. 29, 1961, Ser. No. 99,231 3 Claims. (Cl. 193-33) This invention relates to a structure which greatly increases the speed with which mined material may be removed from an underground storage vessel. In recent years there has been much development in the art of storing hydrocarbon fuels and like substances, in man-made caverns several hundred feet below the earths surface. The area selected for such cavern is usually a strata of rock which is substantially impervious to the material being stored.

In the construction of such a cavern or vessel, it is common practice to drill only one shaft to the cavern area and remove the personnel, equipment and excavated material all through this single shaft. Since the shaft is quite long and the constructed caverns are quite large, huge amounts of material must be removed through the shaft. Since the size of the removing vessel is limited by the shaft diameter, the speed with which the vessel can travel becomes of utmost importance. Therefore, it is an objective of this invention to provide apparatus which greatly increases the speed by which material can be removed via the drilled access shaft.

It is a further objective of this invention to provide structure which may be secured to the bottom of the shaft liner which guides the unloading vessel, and does not decrease the shaft capacity.

It is a still further objective of this invention to provide a guide structure which can be lowered into the cavern area in sections and then readily assembled.

A further objective of the invention is to provide a vessel or bucket structure which cooperates with the shaft for further increasing the speed of the removal operation.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will herein become more fully apparent from the following description of the annexed drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevation view of the invention with parts shown in section;

FIG. 2 is an elevation view of the mining bell;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one section of the bell; and

FIG. 4 is perspective of the loading bucket.

Referring now to the drawings, the numeral 1t! indicates a drilled shaft which runs from the earths surface 11 to the cavern 13. As conventionally done in such operations, a liner 12 is inserted in the shaft and has a diameter large enough to receive a bucket or removal vessel 14. The bucket 14 has an upper diameter slightly less than the shaft liner and a capacity large enough to lower and raise mined material, personnel and equipment from the cavern area.

As seen best in FIG. 1, the liner 12 extends to a point immediately below the ceiling 15 of the cavern area 13. The bucket 14 is secured to the lower end of a cable 18 which is power driven by an above ground friction clutch device (not shown). The use of a bucket and cable is a conventional way of removing material. The frictionclutch permits rapid acceleration when desired.

In the environment where this invention is used, the shaft It is normally several hundred feet in length, and the cavern has a height in excess of 50 feet. The speed, therefore, with which the bucket 14 traverses the distance between the bottom of the cavern and the earths surface becomes of utmost importance. In fact, prior to this invention it was one of the most serious slow-up conditions in the entire excavation operation.

The bucket 14, which has more than a ton capacity, must not strike the liner 12 with any degree of force or the liner will be damaged and/or the bucket will tip'causing serious injury to personnel in the cavern from falling rocks, debris, etc. Because of this, it has been conventional practice to slowly raise the bucket from the cavern floor to the cavern ceiling until the bucket is partially within the liner. This slow-up prevents full utilization of the acceleration capabilities of the friction-clutch device.

This invention has overcome this serious limitation by providing the bottom of the liner with a mining bell or cone 24.

The bell 24 is comprised of several arcuate sections 26 of the type shown in FIG. 3. Each of these sections is small enough to be lowered through liner 12. Each section is comprised of an arcuate section 28 and a skirt 30'. The sections are welded together along their sides 31 to form the completed bell 24. In practice, the sections are pre-fitted together, to insure accuracy and spot welded, prior to lowering them into the cavern. The spot welds are then broken and the individual sections lowered into the cavern where they are permanently assembled and welded.

The bell as thus formed is comprised of an annular neck 34 and an apron 36. The upper surface 33 of the neck 34 is beveled outwardly and downwardly to receive the outwardly disposed weld seam 35.

After assembly, the bell is raised to a point where upper surface 33 of the neck portion is adjacent the lower end of liner 12. The entire assembly is then Welded to the liner 12. The weld seam 35 is completely on the outside so that the interior joint between bell and liner is smooth, so as not to interfere with bucket 14.

If during operation, the cable is not traveling axial of the liner 12, and the bucket is thereby displaced from the axis of the liner, the bell 24 will guide the bucket into liner 12. If the bell is struck, the bucket is prevented from tipping by the adjacent skirt sections. It is evident that all blows must of necessity be glancing blows. Each contact of which forces the bucket to regain an axial path of travel. Therefore, when using the bell the cable may be immediately accelerated with great speed without any danger to men and equipment.

The bucket 14 also contributes to the great speed de sired in the excavating process.

The bucket is comprised of a tapered body section having opposing inwardly directed indented portions 36 and 38 about the opening thereof. A U-shaped strap 40 is secured to the bucket with its ends 42 and 44 passing through the indentations and terminating in handle receiving sections.

That portion of the strap running below the bucket is bent slightly to provide a book 45. This hook is for tipping the bucket for unloading purposes. Two annular collars 46 and 48 are secured to the bottom and top of the bucket respectively. The bucket is completed by handle 50 which is pivotally secured to the ends 42 and 44,

The upper diameter of the bucket (strap '48) is selected to be only slightly less than the interior diameter of liner 12, for a bucket of maximum capacity. The bucket also has a gradually tapered side wall 38. In other words, collar 46 is slightly smaller than collar 48. After the bucket is unloaded above the earths surface, it is desirable to return it through shaft 12 at high speeds. Although the danger is not as serious above the earths surface (the bucket being empty) the speed remains just as important. Therefore, the tapered side walls and conforming strap 40 will guide the bucket centrally of the liner 12 in the event it is slightly axially displaced.

It is apparent that we have described structure which greatly increases the speed with which material can be removed from a cavern area.

While there has been shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention; it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes and substitution of equivalents may be made therein within the true scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for use in excavating underground caverns of the character wherein access to the cavern is provided by a vertical shaft, comprising, a cylindrical metal liner of uniform cross-section constructed along the entire length of said shaft, the lower end of said liner terminating adjacent the upper wall of the cavern, and bucket guiding means attached to the lower end of the liner projecting downwardly into the cavern, said guiding means being formed generally in the shape of an inverted truncated cone, the upper end of said inverted conical means having a cross-section conforming with the uniform cross-section of the liner, the lower end of the conical means having a cross-section substantially larger than that of the liner, said conical guiding means .comprising a plurality of elongated metal elements, the greatest dimension in width of any of said elements being less than the cross-section of the liner, whereby said elements may be introduced into the cavern through said liner for assembly in the cavern.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1, wherein said inverted conical guiding means terminates at its upper end in' a coaxial cylindrical collar portion having a crosssection similar to that of the liner.

3. The invention as defined in claim 2, wherein each of said elements comprising the conical guiding means are substantially identical, and include an axially extending section of a truncated cone provided at the narrower end with an axially projecting section of a coaxial cylinder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 27,765 Aldrich Apr. 10, 1860 153,974 McCalmont Aug. 11, 1874 291,759 McCalmont Jan. 8, 1884 

